T.S. Doabia, J.

1. In this petition the election of Smt. Lakshmibai, respondent No. 4, has been challenged on the ground that nomination paper of one Manjit Kaur who figures as respondent No. 2, was wrongly accepted. It is alleged that as a person who was not eligible to take part in the process of election, has been permitted to contest the election, this has materially effected the result of the election.

2. Shri K. N. Gupta, learned Government Advocate appearing for the State has taken a preliminary objection to the maintainability of the petition on the ground that the election of respondent No. 4 can be challenged only by way of an election petition.

3. This position is not accepted by the counsel for the petitioner. To counter the argument raised by the State Shri Arun Mishra, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has submitted that the remedy of election petition provided under the Act is illusory inasmuch as election petition has to be preferred before a Sub Divisional Officer and other officers designated in Section 122. According to him, as these officers take active part in the process of election and are actively associated with the entire process of election,